1: Hopkins'
Bloomberg School of Public Health ranking for its
master's and doctoral programs. (Harvard and University of
North Carolina tied for 2nd.) Hopkins Public Health last
captured the #1 spot in 2000.

2: Johns Hopkins
School
of Medicine ranking, tied with Washington University in
St. Louis. The #1 spot went to Harvard. (Harvard/JHU were
similarly ranked last year.)

www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/johnshopkins/
Those with kids who are concerned about the Earth's health
(and what kids aren't, these days?) will want to check out
the School of Public
Health's new site that tackles issues ranging from
global warming ("Taking Our Temperature") to food shortages
("What's Left to Eat?"). The site is ostensibly geared to
middle schoolers (with lesson plans for teachers who want
to use it as a stand-alone teaching tool, and a variety of
intriguing film clips), but kids of any age-and adults,
too-will find the information accessible and the insights
revealing. A well-done Q&A section aims to help students
"separate science facts from sound bites." --SD

Stats: BS '89, MSE '91, PhD '94, all in computer
science, all from the University of Michigan Scouting
Report: "Avi's ability to integrate practical and
theoretical issues will significantly influence the
evolving curriculum of our new master's program," says
institute director Gerald Masson.

Research: Studying application of computer security
to medical problems: privacy of medical records, secure
transfer of information, legal compliance, etc. Also
looking at Internet routing, especially the Border Gateway
Protocol. "If BGP were compromised, it would pretty much
bring down the Internet. Right now, I think it's pretty
vulnerable." Wants to work on a design to make it more
secure.

What makes institutional computer security
difficult: "There are all kinds of challenges for
managing a large group of people. Password management is
one challenge. People who pick really good passwords tend
to forget them. If somebody calls up and says, 'I forgot my
password,' do you issue them a new password right away? How
do you know it's the right person on the phone?"

Mentor: Steve Bellovin, senior researcher at AT&T
Labs, who co-authored with William Cheswick Firewalls
and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker. "That
was the first computer security book ever, and a
bestseller. They just did the second edition, and invited
me in on the project. I couldn't believe it."

Alternate career: "I don't know. Maybe become a
professional golfer."

Obsession: Pocket billiards. "I play about an hour a
day. About three years ago I convinced my wife that since
we weren't using our living room, I should be able to buy a
pool table. Of all my accomplishments in my life to date, I
think that was the biggest."--DK

The party on April 21 was also called to celebrate the
official start of a 3.5-year mission extension that FUSE
won from NASA in 2002. "FUSE was oversubscribed by a factor
of three in the last go-round, and I'm anticipating that
there will continue to be high demand," says
Physics and
Astronomy's Bill Blair, chief of observatory operations
for FUSE. "We have observed 1,700 unique targets and
obtained just shy of 29 million seconds of data in the
first three years," he says. "The astronomers who have used
FUSE had already produced 146 refereed papers by our last
tally."

After the celebrations, FUSE organizers had to get back to
work on a "brain transplant" on three of the satellite's
computers-a transplant aimed at ensuring the longevity of
the satellite, which has already proven its toughness by
overcoming dramatic challenges both in orbit and prior to
launch.--Michael Purdy

Coupled Proteins Hold Promise

Using a lab technique called domain insertion, Johns
Hopkins researchers have joined two proteins in a way that
creates a molecular "switch." The result, the researchers
say, is a microscopic protein partnership in which one
member controls the activity of the other. Similarly
coupled proteins may someday be used to produce specialized
molecules that deliver lethal drugs only to cancerous
cells. They also might be used to set off a warning signal
when biological warfare agents are present.

Marc Ostermeier, assistant professor of
chemical and
biomolecular engineering, and doctoral student Gurkan
Guntas reported on the technique at the annual meeting of
the American Chemical Society in March.--Phil Sneiderman

The
Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies
ended the spring semester early, on April 22, as a
precaution against severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS). There'd been no cases of SARS reported at the
center or in Nanjing, officials noted, adding that
certificates would be awarded to all students studying in
the yearlong program, despite the early end of classes (the
semester was originally scheduled to wind up on June 6).

Earlier in April, Hopkins
president William R. Brody
issued a broadcast e-mail urging the Johns Hopkins
community to consider seriously any plans they might have
for international travel. "Given both the current level of
international tension and the emerging situation involving
[SARS], we recommend that such travel be taken only if
absolutely necessary," he said.

The world's non-profit
sector engages nearly 40 million people and has annual
expenditures of $1.3 trillion, larger than the gross
domestic product of all but the six largest countries,
according to a study directed by Lester M. Salamon, who
heads the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil
Society Studies. The data "make clear that the
nonprofit sector is a potent presence not only in the
developed countries of Europe and North America but also in
the developing countries of Africa, the Middle East, and
South Asia," Salamon noted. The study was conducted by 150
researchers in 35 countries around the world.

Hopkins'
Nitze School of
Advanced International Studies has named Marisa R.
Lino, former U.S. ambassador to Albania, as the new
director of its Bologna
Center. The post is her third in Italy; she previously
served the State Department as consul general in Florence
(1990 to 1993) and Rome (1983 to 1985). Lino succeeds
Robert Evans, who retired after 11 years at the post.

Course Description: The course presents an overview
of the development of forensic nursing as a nursing
specialty formally recognized by the American Nurses
Association. Simply defined, forensic nursing explores
areas (child and family abuse, sexual assault, and death
investigation) in which nursing practice overlaps with the
legal system. Students are introduced to the principles of
thorough evidence collection and preservation, and learn
appropriate written and photographic documentation in the
health record. The course also provides an overview of the
judicial system and an introduction to forensic wound
identification.

BW: Biological Weapons. Includes the six agents
considered most likely to be used in a bioterrorist attack:
smallpox, plague, botulism, tularemia, viral hemorrhagic
fevers, and anthrax.

MCE: Mass Casualty Event. Can be used almost
interchangeably with "large scale event" (below), although
there is a difference in magnitude: "If a building
collapses, it's a large scale event," says Christina
Catlett, deputy director of CEPAR. "If there are a lot of
people in the building, it's an MCE."

LSE: Large Scale Events that "really tax the
emergency or healthcare systems." These used to be plane
crashes, train accidents, and building fires. "In the new
era," says Catlett, "we worry about WMD causing MCE. WMDs
can have hundreds or thousands of victims."

Surge Capacity: Amount of additional in- and/or
outpatient care a hospital can provide when pressed into an
MCE.

The Worried Well: Those who "freak out" after an
LSE, rushing to emergency rooms with psychosomatic or
stress symptoms even though "there isn't anything wrong
with them."--SM

Because such cancers are linked to elevated sodium levels,
finding an easy way to identify precise sodium
concentrations at the time malignant lesions are identified
could greatly improve diagnosis and treatment, says Hopkins
radiology instructor
Ronald Ouwerkerk: "Using MRI noninvasively in a single
examination to get information about tumor metabolism and
physiology improves identification of tumor malignancy and
is a big step forward."

Ouwerkerk and his colleagues reported their findings in the
May 1 issue of Radiology.